1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an out-of-liquid conveying portion cleaning structure for cleaning an out-of-liquid conveying portion of a crossover rack mounted to an upper portion of a processing rack for feeding, for example, a printed photosensitive material into a processing solution and processing the photosensitive material therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional printer-processor, photographic paper is exposed and printed by a printer unit. After the photographic paper has been printed, the photographic paper is subjected to respective processes such as development, bleaching/fixing and washing, followed by drying in a drying unit, after which the so-processed photographic paper is discharged to a stock unit.
The respective processes such as development, bleaching/fixing and washing are respectively performed by a developing bath, a bleaching/fixing bath and washing baths. Each of the processing baths has a processing rack for feeding photographic paper into a processing solution.
A crossover rack provided, at an out-of-liquid area, with an out-of-liquid conveying portion comprised of rollers for introducing photographic paper into a solution or withdrawing the photographic paper from the solution for the purpose of executing other processes, guides, etc., is provided at an upper portion of each processing rack. A small amount of processing solution adheres to the out-of-liquid conveying portion upon conveyance of the photographic paper. If development processing is stopped while the processing solution remains adhered and driving is ceased for a long time during the night or the like, the processing solution adheres to and remains at the out-of-liquid conveying portion when the following developing processing is started. As a result, the processing solution is often transferred onto the initial photographic paper at the time of commencement of the development processing as smudges.
In order to avoid the occurrence of such smudges, the crossover rack is detached from the processing rack upon completion of the development processing. It is then necessary to clean the out-of-liquid conveying portion and remove the processing solution adhered to the out-of-liquid conveying portion. The out-of-liquid conveying portion must be mounted to the crossover rack again after completion of cleaning.
Therefore, an automatic cleaning or flushing device is considered which is capable of automatically cleaning an out-of-liquid conveying portion without detaching the out-of-liquid conveying portion.
Namely, a cleaning nozzle unit is mounted to a crossover rack and cleaning water is sprayed onto the out-of-liquid conveying portion through cleaning nozzles for a predetermined time. Thereafter, rollers are rotated for a predetermined time. Further, washing water is sprayed on the out-of-liquid conveying portion for a given time, after which the rollers are reversed for a predetermined time. This processing is repeated several times, in order to perform the cleaning.
When it is desired to maintain and inspect the cleaning nozzles, or the crossover rack and the processing rack, it is necessary to detach the cleaning nozzle unit from the crossover rack.
It is thus necessary to easily attach and detach the cleaning nozzle unit to and from the crossover rack. It is also necessary to hold the cleaning nozzles in predetermined positions suitable for the out-of-liquid conveying unit in a state in which the cleaning nozzle unit has been attached to the crossover rack.
With the foregoing in view, it is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a cleaning nozzle unit suitable for use in an out-of-liquid conveying portion, which is capable of facilitating attachment and detachment of the cleaning nozzle unit to and from a crossover rack and holding cleaning nozzles in predetermined positions suitable for the out-of-liquid conveying portion.
Further, when attempts are made to maintain and check the cleaning nozzles, it is necessary to separate the piping between the cleaning nozzles and a washing water supply source. When the crossover rack is attached to the moving rack and detached therefrom to maintain and inspect the out-of-liquid conveying portion, it is often necessary to separate the piping between the cleaning nozzles and the washing water supply source so as to avoid the occurrence of trouble upon attachment and detachment of the crossover rack to and from the processing rack. It is preferable to provide an easily separable/connectable connecting structure.
On the other hand, the connection of the piping between the cleaning nozzles and the washing water supply source requires liquid-tightness capable of being resistant to corresponding pressure.
However, it can readilly be imagined that when guaranteed fluid-tightness is obtained, it can readily be imagined that the separation and connection between the cleaning nozzles and the washing water supply source should become difficult.
With the foregoing in view, it is therefore a second object of the present invention to provide a connecting structure for a piping, which is capable of ensuring fluid-tightness when the piping is connected, and which is capabled of providing easy separation and connection.
It is also necessary to accurately verify the quantity of cleaning water delivered from the cleaning nozzles in order to hold the concentration of the processing solution constant.
The concentration of a processing solution such as a developer, a bleaching/fixing solution or the like varies depending on the evaporation of water. In order to maintain the concentration of the processing solution at a constant level, it is necessary to replenish water of a quantity corresponding to the quantity of evaporated water. It is considered that water used when the out-of-liquid conveying portion is cleaned, is replenished as the water to be replenished, i.e., the cleaning water is used to compensate for evaporation. In this case, the quantity of the cleaning water discharged from the cleaning nozzles must be accurately verified. It is however undesirable that the structure becomes complex and operation becomes cumbersome.
With the foregoing in view, it is therefore a third object of the present invention to provide a method of measuring the quantity of cleaning water, which is capable of accurately and easily verifying the quantity of cleaning water delivered from cleaning nozzles, and to provide a measuring rack using this method.